A tall and heavy Latvian, young Slovenians and 54 Danes

628 players have been registered by 28 clubs for the group phase of the VELUX EHF Champions League season 2015/16 and among them are:
54 Danes, four players at the age of 17, two players with a height of 2,13, one who weights 135 kilos in contrast to one at 55 kilos, three squads with an average height of less than 1,90 metres and 23 pairs of brothers. Enjoy all important facts and figures of the 28 squads.

Size:

The smallest players:
21 of the 628 players from 28 clubs (3%) are smaller than 1,80 metres. Among those are 17 wing players, three centre backs and one line player.
The smallest registered player is Flensburg coach Ljubomir Vranjes (1,68 metres), who was on SG’s team list several times last season, but never appeared on the court. The smallest official players are Adam Arokszallasi (MOL-Pick Szeged), Tadej Matijasic (HC Metalurg), both by 1,74 metres. The smallest goalkeeper is Morten Ankersen (KIF Kolding Kobenhavn) with 1,80 metres.

The smallest squads in average:
Only three squads have an average height of less than 1,90 metres:
187,9 centimetres: RK Celje
189,0 centimetres: KIF Kolding Kobenhavn
189,6 centimetres: SG Flensburg-Handewitt

The tallest players:
91 of the 628 registered players (14 %) are 2,00 metres or taller, four players are 2,10 metres tall and taller - and Angel Montoro the Spaniard of Wisla Plock, and Dainis Kristopans, Latvian player of Meshkov Brest, top this ranking with 2,13 metres each (and are 45 centimetres taller than Vranjes).

The three tallest players are all left handed right backs. The tallest line player is Mateusz Piechowski (Plock, 2,10), the tallest goalkeeper is Antonijo Peshevski (HC Metalurg, 2,09).

Lightweight champions:
Ten players have a weight of 70 kilograms or less - and as expected are all wing players. “Light weight champion” of the 2015/16 VELUX EHF Champions League is Russian Timofei Maslennikov (Medvedi) with only 55 kilos at a height of 1,85 metres.

Heavyweight champions:
174 players (27%) weight 100 kilos or more. This ranking is topped by the joint tallest player Dainis Kristopans (135 kilos, 80 kilos more than Maslennikov). In total, six players have a weight of 120 or more kilograms.
And this statistics proves that line players needs to have the biggest body mass to be efficient and successful: 11 of the 15 heaviest players are pivots, but also two Serbian born goalkeepers are among them.

The oldest:
Four players are older than 40 (including Flensburg coach Vranjes, who is also registered as a player), the oldest one is Russian centre back Alexandr Radchenko, contracted by Presov - and among the 14 oldest players are eight goalkeepers.

The oldest squads in average:
Funnily enough a group phase debutant has the second oldest squad on average: HCM Baia Mare, only Vardar Skopje have older players.
28,74 years on average: Vardar Skopje
28,25 years on average: HCM Baia Mare
28,24 years on average: Vive Tauron Kielce
28,05 years on average: Meshkov Brest
28,00 years on average: FC Barcelona Lassa

The youngest:
157 players (25%) were born in 1995 or earlier, which means they are 20 years and younger. Four of them are only 16 years old.

The youngest squads in average:
Five squads have an average age of less than 24 years - and the “Young brewers” from Celje are the youngest, ahead of the fully rejuvenated teams of Metalurg and Medvedi.
22,21 years old on average: RK Celje
22,86 years old on average: Metalurg Skopje
23,11 years old on average: Chekhovskie Medvedi
23,92 years old on average: Pick Szeged
23,95 years old on average: Kristianstad

Nationality:
Players from 33 different countries have been registered from their clubs, the only Non-European countries represented are Brazil (5 players), Cuba (3), Iran (2) and Tunisia (2).

The country represented by the biggest number of players is Denmark with 54, ahead of Croatia (46), Hungary (45), Spain (45), Serbia (44), France (40), Russia (39), Sweden and Slovenia (36).

Interestingly: Croatia, Serbia, Russia, Sweden and Slovenia are represented only by one club in the group phase. Though three German clubs are among the 28 teams, but only 33 German players have been registered.